This copy is for your personal non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies of Toronto Star content for distribution to colleagues, clients or customers, or inquire about permissions/licensing, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com

Despite Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty's 11th hour bid to end a strike in its 79th day, NDP Leader Howard Hampton said this afternoon his party would not grant the unanimous consent required for passage of the bill.

Because it requires three readings for a bill to become a law, it is unlikely to pass until Wednesday, meaning the 50,000 students would be unable to return to class before Thursday at the earliest.

McGuinty, who made no effort to contact either Hampton or Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory before recalling the Legislature, told reporters at noon it would resume sitting tomorrow at 1 p.m. The House had not been due to sit until Feb. 17.

"I am asking MPPs from all parties to provide unanimous consent for immediate passage of the bill so that students can get back to school this week," he said before Hampton's views were known.

Earlier this week, McGuinty had appointed labour mediator Reg Pearson to "bang a few heads together" and come up with a solution one of the longest strikes in York's history. The strike shut down the York campus on Nov. 6, when 3,400 teaching assistants, contract faculty and graduate assistants walked off the job.

Article Continued Below

"Earlier today I was advised by Mr. Pearson that there is no reasonable prospect of a negotiated settlement between York University and CUPE Local 3903," McGuinty said. "The sides are in a clear deadlock, and despite our best efforts to bring the sides together, that has not changed."

On Thursday the union made a counter-offer the day after Pearson was appointed. It was the fifth "significant" move made since the strike began, said Shipley.

"We think the university should go back to the bargaining table," he said.

Hampton said the party believes a resolution shouldn’t be forced and his members are set to debate each reading.

“It almost looks like the university has taken the position `We won’t bargain and then we’ll allow the McGuinty government to settle this.’ And that’s wrong,” he said.

The real issue is that education in Ontario is “chronically underfunded,” Hampton said.

“That’s where the real problem lies. And trying to blame the workers is frankly just wrong.”

Tory, for his part, supports the Liberals' move, though he today blasted McGuinty for doing "too little, too late.

"The biggest losers in all of this are the students," he said.

"Our party has been calling for McGuinty to take action on this since November. What took so long?"

Both Tory and Hampton complained that they learned of Sunday's Legislative sitting through a government press release and wondered why the Liberals neglected to consult with both opposition parties, as was done when TTC workers were legislated back on the job last year.

The key issues the two sides differed on are job security for professors on short-term contracts, full-time openings for part-time faculty, length of contracts and better funding for grad students.

However, in these challenging economic times, delaying the education of 50,000 students is simply no longer an option, McGuinty said.

With files from The Canadian Press

Delivered dailyThe Morning Headlines Newsletter

The Toronto Star and thestar.com, each property of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, One Yonge Street, 4th Floor, Toronto, ON, M5E 1E6. You can unsubscribe at any time. Please contact us or see our privacy policy for more information.

More from the Toronto Star & Partners

LOADING

Copyright owned or licensed by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or distribution of this content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited and/or its licensors. To order copies of Toronto Star articles, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com